Congress criticises Modi's Independence Day speech

The Congress on Saturday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Independence Day speech, saying it was "depressing" as he did not talk about the main issues concerning the country.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not talk about (the) 'Swachh Bharat' drive of his government as it has been reduced to photo opportunity. Neither did he say anything about terrorism," Congress leader and former minister of state for home R.P.N Singh told IANS.

The Congress leader said that Modi did mention corruption as one of the issues troubling India, but he did not say anything about the Vyapam scam or Lalit Modi issue.

"There cannot be double standards on issues of corruption," he said.

It would not be acceptable, Singh said.

He also said the prime minister failed to mention anything concrete about the One Rank, One Pension issue.

Earlier in the day, Congress president Sonia Gandhi unfurled the national flag at the party headquarter to mark India's 69th Independence Day.

She and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi refrained from making any comment on Modi's speech.

"Today is not a day of politics. We will talk tomorrow," Rahul told reporters.